Figure 1.

Ischemic preconditioning decreases pro-inflammatory cytokine formation and HMGB1 release from small-for-size liver grafts after transplantation. Liver grafts and sera were collected 38 h after transplantation. Hepatic TLR4, TNFα, HMGB1 and actin were measured by immunoblotting, and representative immunoblots are shown in (A). Densitometric quantification of immunoblots of TLR4, TNFα and HMGB1 is shown in (B, C), and (E), respectively. Hepatic TNFα mRNAs were measured by real-time PCR (D). Serum HMGB1 was measured using ELISA (F). Sham, livers from sham-operated rats; FSG, full-size grafts; QSG, quarter-size grafts; QSG + IP, ischemic-preconditioned QSG. Values are means ± SEM. Group sizes were 3-4 per group. a, P<0.05 vs sham operation; b, P<0.05 vs FSG; c, P<0.05 vs QSG.